Friday, September 28, 2012

Friday Focus - Artistic Outpost

Welcome to today's Friday Focus, it's Sue here and I want to share with you my love of the Artistic Outpost stamps. The images from these stamp sets are gorgeous and that coupled with the superb quality just make them irrestible so I'm soooo happy that Linda has decided to stock them in The Funkie Junkie Boutique!

It has also given me the perfect excuse to start my Christmas cards! First of all I wanted to show you how deep the rubber images are.

The stamps are really detailed and you get a really clear image every time you stamp.

As always I started with my background and I used Dylusions Sprays on white card stock.

Then I stamped the trees across the background to create a continuous row. You will see that I've stamped with funky foam underneath my card. The reason I do this is because I'd not had time to mount my stamps on to EZ Mount so my stamp is glued (temporarily) to an acrylic block. If you stamp using funky foam underneath it makes sure you get a clear image when your stamp isn't mounted.

I stamped the main image onto white cardstock and also onto a Post-it note so I could mask it off and then stamp some snowflakes with white acrylic paint over the top.

I painted the image using Distress Markers but only giving it a little colour as I didn't want the vintage feel to be lost with too strong a colour.

I dried it all off with my heat gun then blended Distress Ink around the edge and wiped over the image with a damp piece of kitchen towel to reveal the snowflakes.

I used a Sizzix snowflake embossing folder, blended Distress Ink over, painted it lightly with white acrylic paint and when dry sanded it with a sanding block to distress it.

The snowflake is a filigree one from Linda's shop and I've painted it with white acrylic paint as well as the button.

I also made this tag using a diffuser to create the flat area to stamp on in the centre. The border of pine cones has been done by masking off the first image and stamping over the top.

This was also my first dabble with the Tattered Pine Cone die, which is also available in Linda's shop. I'm not quite sure I've mastered it yet!

Be sure to stop by The Funkie Junkie Boutique and check out our Friday Focus section where you can always find products at 15% off Linda's already low prices (name brands like all the Ranger lines and Melissa Frances are always available at 20% off MSRP).

What a fantastic step-by-step, thank you! I'm also a massive fan of the AO stamps... and your use of them here is simply delicious, Sue! Glorious tag too... (Am still kicking myself that I missed the Diffusers offer a few weeks back.) Alison x